Missing journalist’s body found in Mexico’s Michoacan state

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The body of a Mexican radio journalist was found more than a month after his disappearance, authorities in the state of Michoacan said.

Fidel Ávila Gómez had disappeared Nov. 29, 2019 after leaving Huetamo, Michoacan for an event in the city of Altamirano, Guerrero on the border of the two states, according to Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission. The commission said in a statement late Wednesday that he had been taken by armed men and it called on authorities to investigate if it was tied to his journalistic work.

Ávila was a host and manager of the radio station “La Ke Buena” in Huetamo. The human rights commission said his body was found along the San Lucas-Huetamo highway in Michoacan on Tuesday. The Michoacan state prosecutor’s office confirmed via Twitter that Ávila had been found.

Multiple criminal organizations operate in the region.

The Michoacan Reporters Association demanded authorities do more to protect them. It said journalists in the state in recent years had faced growing physical and verbal aggression without consequences for the aggressors.

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